Jonathan Howsmon Davis(born January 18, 1971), also known as JD and JDevil (or J Devil), is an American musician best known as the leading vocalist and frontman of the nu metal band Korn. Hit Parader ranked Davis at number 16 on a list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" in 2006.
Davis was born in Bakersfield, California, to Holly Chavez (née Smith) and Rick Davis. He has a sister named Alyssa, a half brother, Mark Chavez, (known as the former lead singer for Adema) and half sister Amanda Chavez by his mother. His father was a keyboardist for Buck Owens and Frank Zappa, while his mother was a professional actress and dancer. His parents divorced when he was three years old and he was raised by his father and stepmother Lily in Bakersfield. Davis suffered severe bouts of asthma as a child, and had survived a near-fatal asthma attack when he was five years old. He also spoke of having a horrible relationship with his stepmother. He said she used to harass him and torture him, giving him tea mixed with Thai hot oil and jalapeño juice to drink when he was sick. Davis's father later divorced her. He says the song "Kill You" was written about her. Davis has said that his earliest musical inspiration as a child was the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar, and his favorite musical group was Duran Duran. He graduated from Highland High School in 1989. He also attended the San Francisco School of Mortuary Science for a period of time. He was persistently harassed in Highland High School primarily by jocks for being different by wearing eyeliner, long clothes, and listening to new wave music. He was teased, harmed, beaten and he was constantly called homophobic names.The song "Faget" was inspired by these events as was his HIV tattoo. He says even teachers were mean to him and sent him to the counselor for wearing eyeliner. He says Mr. Rogers was not responsible for making him a victim in his childhood.
Davis' childhood is a big influence in Korn lyrics. The song "Daddy" gave rise to a rumor that Rick Davis (Jonathan's father) had had sex with his son, even though Jonathan has gone on the record in many interviews saying it was written about a family friend who sexually abused him. He said that, when he tried to turn to his family as a child to tell them about the abuse, they ignored him; neither Jonathan or Rick will say who the person was, though both say it was a woman.
Davis has married twice, Renee Perez, in 1998 in a Medieval-themed ceremony. Together they had a son, Nathan Howsmon Davis who was born on October 18, 1995. They divorced in 2001. A decade after the release of Korn's first album, on October 9, 2004, he married again in Hawaii, this time to former pornographic actress Deven Davis. Davis's second child, Pirate Howsmon Davis,[24] was born on March 18, 2005. Davis's third son, Zeppelin Howsmon Davis, was born on April 28, 2007.
Davis has not used alcohol or other drugs since 1998.On the band's Deuce DVD, Davis's bandmates all say they are proud of him for his sobriety.
Davis has stated that Untouchables is his favorite Korn album and that "Hollow Life" and "Do What They Say" are his favorite Korn songs (according to an interview).
In the early 2000s, Davis began collecting serial killer art and memorabilia. In 2005, he was considering starting a serial killer museum with Arthur Rosenblatt but pulled out of the deal, leading Rosenblatt to sue him. The litigation was ultimately resolved successfully by Ed McPherson, Davis' attorney. Davis later denounced the items and got rid of them.
In late 2006, Davis was recognized and honored at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California, by Buddy Alan, son of the late Buck Owens.
While Korn performed at the Download Festival in 2006, Davis was unable to perform, as he had developed idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a rare bleeding disorder. This left him bedridden for days after his band's performance. Assorted other artists also at Download filled in singing for Korn during the performance including M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Matt Heafy of Trivium, Jesse Hasek of 10 Years, Benji Webbe of Skindred, Dez Fafara of Devildriver and Corey Taylor of Slipknot.The songs "Starting Over" and "Hold On" were inspired by the illness.
Davis created an original fighting game, Pop Scars, which pits popular musical personalities against each other in one-on-one combat. Participants include members of Limp Bizkit, Staind, Marilyn Manson, and Korn itself. Each celebrity has its own personality and sports character designs sketched by comic book artist Marty Emond, while stages feature environmental traps that impede opponents as they fight. Pop Scars never made it past the early design stages, as Davis himself pulled the plug on the project in late 2004.
JDevil is the EDM alter-ego of Jonathan Davis. He has been DJing since 1987 while he was still in high school. He began working for Pacific West Sound and spun at high school dances and parties on the weekends in Bakersfield. He used to spin New York Freestyle, Miami bass, Old school hip hop, Goth, and Industrial. In 2009, he began to DJ again and he introduced JDevil to the world in 2011 at Infected Mushroom appearances and as an opening act on Korn's Path of Totality Tour. Jonathan felt a need to use a unique name while making music. As he states in an interview, he has combined initials (JD), and 'evil' into 'JDevil'. He has nicknamed his wife, Deven, Devil, which also is a part of JDevil moniker. Jonathan has always been fascinated by the devil and JDevil's persona embraces the idea of being the "antichrist of EDM".An anagram of JDevil is live DJ. Jonathan says JDevil represents "indulgence and doing whatever you want to do and not ignoring your instincts, as long as you don't hurt anybody."JDevil's EDM style combines elements of dubstep, Jungle, drum and bass, four-on-the-floor, and metal.
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